Present invention relates to a full flow cap valve constructed of a single injection molded piece, which is adaptable to an improved neck finish of a fluid bottle.
Spillage has been a common problem during pouring motor oil from a motor oil bottle to a fill port of engine crankcase. This is due to the fact that oil begins to escape out of the outlet spout of bottle as bottle being tilted to a certain degree, in which, outlet spout has not yet been positioned immediately adjacent to the fill port. Numerous techniques have been proposed in prior art for solving spillage problem. However, no prior art has satisfactorily solved the problem and achieved commercialization, primarily due to the cost concern.
The motive of present invention is that a full flow cap valve of a single injection molded piece can be the most economical solution for solving spillage problem. During aligning outlet spout to fill port, cap valve is closed to seal the flow path through outlet spout. As bottle being inverted and outlet spout being aligned immediately adjacent to or submerged within fill port, cap valve is then opened to discharge oil directly into fill port at full flow capacity without a possibility of spillage. Full flow capacity of cap valve is defined as the maximum flow rate discharging through outlet spout when cap valve is not connected to outlet spout. However, all full flow cap valves of prior art are constructed of two or multiple injection molded pieces, which require extra assembling time and higher manufacturing costs.
Author of present invention has found that a one-piece cap valve can not possibly provide a flow area equivalent to the flow area of outlet spout when it is adapted to a conventional outlet spout. The conventional outlet spout or neck finish is typically in the form of a cylinder with a uniform bore size. Due to this fact, all one-piece cap valves of prior art can not discharge fluid at full flow capacity. Therefore, they are typically used for dispensing fluid at substantially reduced flow rate upon pressing or squeezing the fluid bottle.
Present invention takes a novel approach to convert the conventional neck finish to an improved neck finish constructed of two integrated cylinders, in which, an upper and larger cylinder is integrally connected and converged to a lower and smaller cylinder. The smaller bore size of lower cylinder defines the flow area of outlet spout or neck finish. A one-piece cap valve of present invention is then adapted to the upper cylinder of neck finish, capable of sealing the interior top rim of the lower cylinder of neck finish. All flow areas within cap valve are at least equivalent to the flow area of the lower cylinder of neck finish. As a result, cap valve of present invention is not only constructed of a single injection molded piece, but also capable of discharging fluid at full flow capacity. The improved neck finish of present invention is achieved by forming the identical neck finish at the injection molded parison, which is then undergoing a conventional blow molding process to form the body of fluid bottle.